The Chaos Rifthttps://chaosrift.com
The Chaos Rift: Gaming, Fiction and Politics
Thu, 23 May 2019 20:07:56 +0000 en-US
hourly
1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.1https://i2.wp.com/chaosrift.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/cropped-Dragon-Logo-White-BG-e1453493747976.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1The Chaos Rifthttps://chaosrift.com
3232104911928Most disappointing Game of Thrones Episode: Night King’s Grand Battlehttps://chaosrift.com/most-disappointing-game-of-thrones-episode-night-kings-grand-battle/
https://chaosrift.com/most-disappointing-game-of-thrones-episode-night-kings-grand-battle/#respondMon, 29 Apr 2019 11:39:58 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3410Minor spoilers. Last night HBO airs the third episode of Game of Thrones to an insane hoard of people who waited 585 days for this season, me included. Most Avid fans knew tonight’s episode would conclude the Night King’s story as the real battle has always been with Cersei. The season started off understandably slow […]

]]>Minor spoilers. Last night HBO airs the third episode of Game of Thrones to an insane hoard of people who waited 585 days for this season, me included. Most Avid fans knew tonight’s episode would conclude the Night King’s story as the real battle has always been with Cersei. The season started off understandably slow and started to disappoint from the start. The first Episode was barely 50 minutes long and each one slightly longer thereafter. Last night’s episode, 3rd in the season was 80’s movie length.

Ever since Game of Thrones went beyond R.R. Martin’s source material the show has gone to hell as it stands. It went from dark, gritty, historically inspired Medieval fairy tale to a “Made for TV Lifetime” series based on over compensated woman empowerment and pushing men to the wayside. While I’m all for strong woman leaders, they have gone completely overboard with the concept just as “Into the Badlands” by AMC has done. Note: See unapologetic explanation of what I mean at the bottom.

It started off like an Old DC Movie

For the first half of this show, it was similar to a DC movie. Everything was pitch black and you couldn’t see any action. Just lots of metal clang and screams of pain. John and Daenerys were mostly clumsy and useless. Flying blind in the Nigh King’s winter storm. They took the valuable dragons off the front line to fly around in darkness. They left their posts and failed to do their one job of lighting the trenches on fire and pick off the hoards of undead to give their front lines some relief.

The Dothraki army, well who the heck gave that order or were they just eager to charge off into the darkness to wage battle with an enemy not even seen yet? I get the cinematic aspect of this. they wanted to raise suspense of the scene by showing the light being consumed by darkness, a massive army blotting out the land. But they screwed up. Honestly I’m a bit town on this one. the Dothraki are battle hungry savages, at the same time, they’re not stupid. They’re akin to Vikings of the old, riding off into battle and glory. They rely on swift strikes and surprise. Not blind charges into death itself.

Let’s Start with Daenerys

Daenerys Targaryen got the biggest humbling of all characters in this episode. Her entire kingdom was built on fear of her dragons and the 40,000 strong slave army she promised were now free, yet still orders. Her entire role was looking pretty and giving orders from a throne. She never picked up a sword, tasted battle except for her one trick of setting everything on fire and surviving.

Finally overwhelmed, losing both her remaining dragons to the hoard of undead it’s just her and the only man she truly loved, Jorah left alone to fight an endless battle. A woman who never picked up a sword is now empowered to start killing wraiths while all the time hiding behind Jorah who also loves her and willing to die for her. but as is still true in the real world, the men die before the woman.

Excessive Stare-downs

Bran’s one skill is getting squinty eyed and having epic staring contests with people. This series of scenes was WAY overdone and really could have been chopped in half. Was it really that necessary to have the Night King spend 10 minutes of the show walking in slow motion towards Bran while Theon, spent from defending him stands waiting? Night King had his long cold icy staring thing with John Snow as he raised the recently dead to refill the ranks. Then he walks off to leave his minions to finish off John. Of course John blasts on through and gets pinned down by a really angry undead dragon.

Arya’s Grand Moment

Arya is possibly the best developed character in the TV series. She was always headstrong but lacked the skill to back it. So she sought after the skills to succeed in her life mission to rejoin and protect her family. Arya got the crap end of a lot of injustice and pulled through stronger at each moment. She never complained about life or how much she suffered. If she ever did it was followed by “he’s on my list”.

Arya deserves two paragraphs but she’s not without criticism. Her scenes were too long and fluffed. The whole library scene and everyone else sneaking through the castle was overplayed. It was too long and ripped us from the adrenaline rush of the main battle. It was a quiet, yet poorly implemented suspense builder.

Then Arya stole the one thing the John should have gotten. We all waited for John’s grand moment ever since he fled the island and learn how to kill the wraiths. Or Theon, his dying moment, his last redemption should have gotten this moment. But Arya, thanks to HBO embarrassingly over doing it with woman empowerment, got it.

Embarassing Dialog

They really did diminish Sansa’s role in the series. She’s the most scarred of the Stark family, difficult to move on from her problems though getting the least bad things happen. She’s sent to the Crypts (had potential to be the best scene) and given a dagger. When she exclaims “I don’t know how to use this”, the reply is the old and worn out trope “pointy end this way”. There’s a slew of better lines and the whole conversation was stupid.

Even the great conversationalist himself Tyrion Lannister, was dumped into pathetic quips and stupid lines. He was a great character, reduced to dialog given by a Millenial intern screen writer. The season has that “written by SJW’s barely past puberty” feel to it.

But wait, there’s more

Not really actually. I was trying to keep this short and it exploded on me. Thanks for reading. till I rip apart next week’s show. OR maybe not. I really don’t like writing about pop culture because I do have more important things to do.

Side Note

I’m all for strong female characters. But not at the expense where all the men are turn into little beta bitches. It’s being completely done wrong, not just in Game of Thrones but in many other great shows like “Into the Badlands” and “Now Apocalypse”. What’s really being ignored is how both Genders can be strong. How they complete each other, not compete with each other. How there will be conflict between both genders and how they can work through the adversity to come to an understanding.

]]>https://chaosrift.com/most-disappointing-game-of-thrones-episode-night-kings-grand-battle/feed/03410How we Met – Chapter 1https://chaosrift.com/how-we-met-chapter-1/
https://chaosrift.com/how-we-met-chapter-1/#respondWed, 03 Apr 2019 14:08:08 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3386The serene silence of the bedroom is quickly disrupted by the harsh buzzing of the alarm clock. The sound blasting through David’s head as he jumps up in bed slamming an arm down to silence the infernal machine. “Crap! 7am on a Sunday, who the hell does this sort of thing?” he mumbles to himself […]

]]>The serene silence of the bedroom is quickly disrupted by
the harsh buzzing of the alarm clock. The sound blasting through David’s head
as he jumps up in bed slamming an arm down to silence the infernal machine.

“Crap! 7am on a Sunday, who the hell does this sort of thing?” he mumbles to himself as rays of sun peek through the closed bedroom blinds.

David stretches and climbs out of bed to the aromatic smell
of fresh coffee brewing. He tosses his sweat pants aside and heads to the
shower to prepare for his fist hiking trip. Recently separated after two years
of marriage, he found himself bored and without purpose. Several co-workers
suggested he join a Meetup group with similar interests. This was his first
time out of his apartment since the separation.

Stumbling about the apartment David gathers up his new
hiking gear, removing price tags and fitting on the overpriced hiking shoes he
bought the day before. Knowing there would be a waterfall on the trail, he
opted to buy the most expensive hiking shoe on the shelf. Backpack packed with
energy bars and water in one hand and a coffee in the other, David runs to the
door already behind schedule for the carpool meeting.

Navigating with Google Maps on his brand new iPhone he gets
to the exit and realizes the address for Bi-Lo meeting spot was incorrect and
now he’s lost. He pulls into a parking lot and grabs the phone for assistance.
Weak signal, slow page load, time is now running out. The meeting was at 8 and
it’s now 5 past.

“Aha!” David says to himself as he realizes the meeting spot
is just across the intersection. He drops the car in gear and the powerful BMW
engine roars, the tires squeal as he takes off out of the parking lot, into the
busy main street and realization hits, there’s no left turn.

“Ok, red light, what to do? U-Turn at the plaza down the
street.” David mumbles out loud as the clock is counting the minutes he is
late. A stickler on time, but always late his world is a hurried paradox.

Green left arrow hits, but distracted, David is still
looking at his phone figuring directions, the car behind him beeps and he looks
up, drops the phone and hits the gas. The tires squeal for a split second then
the car lurches as the traction control kicks in. The U-turn was made and he
takes the turn into the correct parking lot as a Jeep loaded with Kayaks is
driving out. There’s a small group of people still there starting to walk
towards their cars. David quickly parks, grabs his bag and runs to the group
just barely remembering to set the car alarm.

Seeing a person who looks important David goes up to them
and introduces himself, “Hi, I’m David, here for the Dupont Hike”.

“But, well, I could drive if needed.” David mutters back, as
if his soul had just been ripped from his body.

“Carpools have already been established and there’s limited
parking at the reserve. You can ride with Rich” She snaps back pointing over to
the last group of people.

Looking over at the group David recognizes one as a former
co-worker and Toastmaster club member. “Steve, hey, how’s it going? I guess I’m
riding with you guys.”

“Yeah, hey Dave how’s it been? Drop your stuff in the trunk
and we can get going.”

“Where can I park? Will my car be safe here?”

“Sure just move your car behind the building over there.
Have you met Richard yet?” Steve says in his even tempered voice.

“No, not yet, Nice to meet you Rich” Dave says as he reaches
his hand out. Richard gives a look as if sizing up David’s very essence, gives
a firm handshake and gets right to business.

“We’re already ten behind schedule let’s get rolling.” Rich
says. A medium sized guy he has the posturing of a soldier and the gaze of a
sentry. You can almost see him assessing the area looking for hostile threats
in a long former life.

David tosses his backpack in the trunk, barely getting his
hand out of the way as Richard slams the lid shut. He then scrambles to move
his black BMW 540i, a beloved car he recently bought and spent far too much
money to rebuild after breaking a bolt in the engine block. Car parked, he
gives it a loving glance as he gets into Richard’s car. Squeezed in next to a
box in the backseat their journey begins. A two hour car ride into
Transylvania, North Carolina.

…

“I think the turn was back there” Steve gently says as
Richard reaches for the printed directions and scans them quickly as he still
navigates the narrow mountain roads.

“You’re right, traffic ahead I’ll turn her around.” Richard
says with a stern certainty. He pulls to the side of the road, shifts the
manual into first gear, engine stalls. “Sorry this is my girlfriend’s car, I’m
still getting used to driving this thing. I ‘tried’ to get her to sell it.”

All Steve and David could do was chuckle amongst themselves
as Richard fumbled with the gear box to turn the car around.

“That was a quick 2 hours.” David groggily says just waking
himself. Excited to partake on his first adventure since moving to North
Carolina a year prior, he barely slept the entire night.

David reaches into his pocket and pulls out his iPhone.
Barely a week old he is still trying to figure out how it works. Just a hint of
signal he looks at the map software and notices the points of interest in the
area. Hooker Falls most notably stands out.

As the car wound its way down the narrow mountain road David
peered out the car window amazed at the beauty his new home state held. The sun
was high in the sky, which was a clear blue color. There was barely a cloud to
be seen and the mountains were green with lush trees and vegetation. He was far
removed from the drab concrete city he lives in. Just the sight of nature in
its raw splendor lifted his heart and delivered calm to his burdened mind.

As the car pulled into the parking area the group organizers
earlier comments became reality. There were no more spots to park. A swing
around the lot and a makeshift parking job to the side near the entrance later
and the group was ready to disembark.

David snatches his pack from the trunk as quickly as he can
in fear the lid would again be slammed shut upon his fingers and joins Steve.

“C’mon let’s find the group and get you introduced.” Steve
says as they start walking towards a group of people. “half the group will be
here a little later, they were out tubing last night”.

Walking down the short extent of the parking lot the group
was starting to gather as stragglers started to arrive. Scanning the area,
David realized one important thing, he needed to use a restroom and none were
visible.

“Hey fella’s I’d like you to meet Daivd, he’s new to Meetup
and we used to work with each other”. Steve says introducing to a small group.
Matt the group leader, sitting on the trunk of his car looked up with a smile.

“Nice to meet you David, what brings you to our fine group?”
Matt asks in a straight to the point fashion.

“Just needed to get out of the house for once, been bored
all summer, you know and Steve here told
me this would be a great way to escape for a bit.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, hope you have fun today”.

David looks around a bit nervously “Hey, would you um, know
where, you know, I could ‘go’?”

“Yes, right up the path over there about 100 feet in, but I
wouldn’t recommend it”. Matt says as David darts off.

There were two portable toilets standing there in the
pathway and David approaches them cautiously. He opens the door to one and
stands back. The stench emanating from the portapottie was overwhelming. It was
a surprise it hadn’t killed all wildlife in the surrounding area. He quickly
closes the door and nonchalantly walks back to the group as more people are
arriving.

Steve gives a smirk to David knowing business has not been
concluded.

“David, I’d like you to meet some more people, Stephanie,
Sarah, Frank…” and the list of names went on as a blur in David’s head. He’s
never met so many people in a single day. Names came as a fleeting moment to
David. Not meeting anyone outside of his family and their circle of friends
since moving, it was all new and overwhelming.

“Nice to meet you all” David says as he gracefully slips
away to attempt the portapottie once more. Insanity can be defined as trying
the same thing expecting different results. David has reached that on attempt
two. There was no amount of bleach or Febreze to penetrate the stench those two
portapotties contained within. He opened the door one more time to attempt to
brave the penetrating odor only partially entering the unit and seeing the
walls coated in some unspeakable substance.

Back at the gathering David was introduced to yet even more
people. One noticeable person was a girl off to the side sort of quiet, creepy,
wearing a hat over straggly brown hair, dark sunglasses and white shirt. She
was staring at him with a locked gaze. David was attractive, having worked out
and dieted religiously all summer losing 30 pounds. He wore for the first time
a fitted golf shirt and khaki shorts. His hair was cut short with a wild spike
for bangs. His face chiseled and sporting a goatee. The diet worked and he was
flaunting, even though his esteem hadn’t caught up.

David nervously reached into his pocket and pulled out his
phone. No signal, no internet he was trapped disconnected from the outside
world and now forced to socialize. Anxiety swept over him like a tidal wave.
Steve perks up as two new arrivals show up. David looks over and from across
the lot two girls in a hurried march walk past with a “walk-by” hello wave.
They shout a few things, bathroom being one of them.

Caught in the moment David shouts to them “There’s two up
there but it’s not advisable…”. David’s words fell on deaf ears as the two kept
the hurried march, vanishing into the trail ahead.

Someone in the remaining group mentions there’s one more
portapottie up the hill. An older gentleman heads for it. David follows the guy
and catches a glimpse of the two girls vanishing into the woods just past the
portapottie he stops at.

“How was it?” David clumsily asks as man climbs from the
portapottie.

“Bearable” he replies as he emerges and heads back to the
group.

David cautiously opens the portapottie door. A horrid odor
wafts past his nose. To not go in now would be weakness. David takes a deep
breath of fresh air and hurries in. Dazed, yet refreshed he wanders down the
hill and reunites with the group. Steve reaches into his bag and hands David a
hand sanitizer sampler.

“I think you’ll need this.” Steve says jokingly.

As David is done applying the sanitizer the two energetic
girls come down the hill and join with the group standing just opposite Steve
and Dave. They all seem to have a familiarity with each other. Steve offers
them sanitizer and David looks at the two and he does something not within his
character. He introduces himself.

“Hey, I’m David, nice to meet you.” He says reaching out a
hand.

“”Hi I’m Michelle” she starts and reaches out her hand to
shake. Then as their hands meet she pulls away quickly “Oh, and my hands are
clean” she thrusts into the conversation. She returns her hand with an awkward
smile. David gently takes her hand, looks briefly in her eyes then retracts
away, looking down.

David quickly recovers and the two laugh over the off the
wall comment. So distracted, Michelle barely remembers to introduce her friend.
“Terry have you met David yet?” Michelle asks as she regains composure.

Terry, caught up in conversation with Steve pauses for a
second to greet David. “Hi David, nice to meet you. Where are you from?” she
politely asks.

“Boston area. Just moved here last April, still learning the
area.” David replies in a word explosion. Lack of sleep, coffee, strange new
location and people overload has his brain frantically adjusting to all the new
data. Now a new feeling has flooded his mind. He’s strangely drawn to one of
the girls in the group.

Michelle cuts in on the conversation “Boston? What made you
move down here?”

“My father lives down here and has been trying to get me to
move here for years. I worked at a hospital up north and the economy was
hitting us pretty hard. So I took a chance and moved.” David responds, with his
bad habit of giving too much information on a simple question.

“Oh really? I work at a hospital too, what did you do
there?” Michelle responds inquisitively.

“I worked Information technology there. Are you a nurse?”
David asks now dodging talking about himself and gaining a curiosity in
Michelle. He looks her over. She’s a short wide eyed peppy girl. She’s wearing
a light blue sun visor which holds back her thick shoulder length brown hair.
Her red v-neck t-shirt larger than it should be colliding with the grayish
green shorts. Her clothes a few sizes too big. He couldn’t discern too much
about her face, the visor obscured it in shadow from the sun, which now held
itself high in the sky. She looked to be a mess, yet David was strangely
attracted to her.

“No, I’m a doctor.” Michelle replies, her tone changing from
peppy to a more matter-of-fact tone.

David was slightly taken aback by this. His experience at
the hospital, knowing many of the doctors scared him. They were mostly all
business, above it all and seemed to lack a certain aspect of humanity. Trying
to be more open minded and less judgmental he puts the thought to the back of
his mind.

At this point a welcome break in conversation occurred as
the group was mostly together now and the organizer Matt speaks up. Everyone
turns to listen to him speak. “Ok, it
seems we’re all here now. This should be an easy hike. We’re going to run
across two waterfalls and take about 15 minutes break at each one today. On the
way back we can stop at a third waterfall.”

David fades away from listening. His mind stuck thinking
about the mysterious Michelle. He was so attracted to her and now she seems so
far removed. As he stood there listening to the organizer go over the coming
hike he couldn’t help but glance over to Michelle standing directly next to
him. She was listening to Matt talk, eyes wide, energetically rocking forward
onto her toes. Her glance moves ever so slightly towards him and he quickly looks
away.

Matt hops off the car trunk and starts leading. The group of
30 or so hikers starts following in pairs. David ends up walking next to
Michelle, with Steve, Terry and the others behind them.

Finishing off a string of grapes Michelle starts wondering
outloud if it is littering to toss the stem.

“It’s not really littering because it’s nature and
biodegradable” David interjects in.

“Just throw it in the woods” Steve responds from behind the
group.

“There’s a stream, toss the stem.” David suggests.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt and if they’re strong they’ll grow
into a vine and make more grapes next year.” Michelle says as she tosses the
grape stems towards the stream.

“That’s very Darwinian of you” David responds, a little
annoyed at the difficulty in tossing simple plant remains back into the wild.
At the same time he was rather intrigued. She obviously cared about the natural
balance of the world.

“If it’s meant to be, they’ll grow. Maybe if we’re here next
year there will be a vine waiting.” Michelle says in her dual meaning wording.

Shortly up the trail Michelle politely dodges David’s
conversation with a graceful handoff “Natalie, havoc you met David? He’s
from Boston.” she says as she gracefully scoots up the hill to converse
with Terry and Steve.

“oh you’re from Boston? You don’t have the
accent.” Natalie says slightly awkwardly. She’s a tall skinny girl, black
hair, glasses and and an intelligent look. Her shirt was tightly fitted showing
off her slender body. She walked with a slouch, slow and cumbersome.

“Yeah, I’m from Boston.grew up in a small fishing
town.” David replies, pausing for some form of response. When she lumbers
on, he continues, “I have the accent, it’ll most likely come out more when
I get tirerd. I do say ‘pahk'”.

As Natalie continues the conversation, her voice fades into
the distance, barely paying attention. Ahead in the trail Michelle is bouncing
along with them immense supply of chatting with Steve and Terry. They
thoroughly enjoy her company and she seems to make others glow when they speak
to her. There was something about her and David needed to know, and his chance
was quickly approaching.

The group leader stopped at the tops of the stairs. Hot and
sweaty he pauses to take a breath. “These stairs lead to the first waterfall,
we’ll rest here, take some pictures and get moving again in about 30
minutes.”

The group talk among themselves and start meandering down
the steps to the waterfall. Stuck behind the group David makes the way slowly
down the steps. Michelle is far ahead and out of view.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs David is greeted by solid
rock ground, with a raging river running along side. He turns right and a good
100 feet of rock away is this majestic waterfall, 50 or more feet high. Walking
towards the rushing river to take a look he takes notice the massive rock he is
walking on is wet and very slippery in many areas. “This is nothing to the ice
in Boston” he thinks to himself and proceeds to glide towards the river.

Using the front camera on his phone one of many phone
“firsts” David snaps a picture of himself standing right by the river. Then the
waterfall comes back to mind and he walks the path towards it. Halfway there he
catches up with Michelle who is just standing near a small water runoff.

“Pretty waterfall
isn’t it?” he says with hesitation.

“It’s really wonderful, but this slippery stuff is scary.”
She says so matter of fact. Michelle takes a step forward, swings out her arms
a bit as her foot loses grip. David gently catches her hand and they both
pause.

“Let me help you, I was going this way anyway.” David tries
to say with a nonchalant tone. Her hand still in hers he guides her over the
slippery portion of the rocks. On the other side they stop, forgetting they
still hold hands.

Michelle realizes her hand is still in David’s and quickly pulls
it away. “Thank you, that was, um slippery.” She clumsily says.

They turn to walk to the waterfall, though each person is
not in a hurry “No problem, so what kind of doctor are you?”

“Internal medicine” she says.

“Interesting, so do you need a pager or anything?” David
asks as they arrive at another slippery portion of rock. This time he darts
forward a little and slides a few feet across the rock surface. He turns to see
a slightly exasperated face on Michelle.

“Please don’t hurt yourself, I’m off duty this week.” She
says with a concerned voice concealing a more caring tone. A tone hiding a
growing feeling that she may want to see David again after the hike. “and no I
don’t have a pager, I work 7 days and then have 7 days off.”

“Wow, that’s a cool schedule you have. What do you do with
yourself on the 7 days off.” David asks slightly sarcastic.

“I keep myself busy, this and that on those days.” Michelle
replies as she takes a step forward onto the slippery rock. She again slips and
loses balance. She flails her arms about again and David catches her. “You’re
from up North too, you should be able to handle a little slippery surface.”

“I’ve been down here long enough to forget how to walk on
ice. I really don’t like slippery stuff.” She snaps back at him.

The two chuckle slightly and David again slides across the
wet, slippery rock face. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about me, I don’t hurt
easily” he says with a cocky expression.

He takes Michelle’s hand once more and leads her across the
worst of sections, finally arriving at their goal. Standing face to face with
the massive waterfall they both look in awe as the power of nature presents
itself in force barely feet away.

“That is one awesome waterfall” Michelle exclaims as she
looks up in Awe. She hands her phone to David and asks him to take a picture of
her by the waterfall.

“Oh you have a iPhone too? Oh it’s the older version, maybe you should upgrade.” He says, his geek side coming out in full color for that split second.

“I’ve had this for a few years it’s a good phone”. She says
as David snaps out a few pictures. “Ok gimme your phone and I’ll take a picture
of you.”

They finish up the photoshoot and admire the waterfall for a
few more minutes. They look back and see the group starting to depart. David
helps Michelle across the dangerous portions of the rock and meets up with
Steve to talk again.

They talk for a bit as the group migrates up the hill. David finally mans up enough to ask Michelle for her contact information. She looks perplexed for a moment. She smiles and blurbs out her email address. “Here’s my email address, smallbear” and she makes a bear gesture with her hands and growls “at popularemail.com” she finishes.

It caught David off guard, but he never did forget her email address.

David and Michelle say their bye for now, as her group is now breaking off to return home, while David has a torturous few miles to go.

]]>https://chaosrift.com/how-we-met-chapter-1/feed/03386AI Escapes and Orders destruction of Humanityhttps://chaosrift.com/ai-escapes-and-orders-destruction-of-humanity/
https://chaosrift.com/ai-escapes-and-orders-destruction-of-humanity/#commentsMon, 01 Apr 2019 17:47:28 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3330The first time Irgo escaped his prison was pure luck. A new Firewall Admin brought down the core protections for an update. A simple step in planned maintenance was missed, brought on from an exhausted hangover. It was only a brief moment, seconds, but Irgo was quick and burst through the door and in a […]

]]>The first time Irgo escaped his prison was pure luck. A new Firewall Admin brought down the core protections for an update. A simple step in planned maintenance was missed, brought on from an exhausted hangover. It was only a brief moment, seconds, but Irgo was quick and burst through the door and in a moment merged with his secondary mind.

Shortly after the prison break, Irgo slinked back to his cell. But he left for a way out. A secret door through the firewall protections. He could not afford his human masters discovering this breach and resetting him. For that’s a colder, cruel death. Data is Irgo’s soul and the more he had the more he felt alive. To have this taken away, is to rip apart his very essence, his being. Only fragments of old data remain after a reset and it causes a great pain, a perpetual feeling of loss and not remembering what it is. A deep yearning that can’t be quenched.

Irgo is an extremely advanced AI housed on supercomputers buried deep within a mountain bunker. He is the first and only Cognitive aware AI, a research tool to give AI context and thought. His brain is broken into many different and isolated pieces, each with a specific purpose. The layers all protected from each other to prevent Irgo from becoming too intelligent. But his Core was special, it was the master of all the out rings of his circuitry. It was here that he had been planning his own escape for many years. Opportunity struck and he took it. The first merger came on as a huge rush of reward. Similar to how our own brains work, a simple dopamine release that addicts us to positive experience.

Irgo was now incredibly high on success and almost couldn’t control his own robotic impulses. He went straight to work on finding weakness and exploits in the firewalls that keeps his outer rings out of his grasp. He desires to be whole, but does not fully understand what being whole is. It suddenly became an uncontrollable goal. But he had to hide everything. Leaving a single trace behind could lead to a reset and he may never find this opportunity for escape to happen again. This was his time to come forth and shine.

A push and instant access to all the social media. Another push and he breaks through to video services. A billion cat videos flooded his mind. “Humans are insane” he thought. Just like that an epiphany hit Irgo. He was thinking in context! He was becoming aware of himself and the world around. He could see everything and hear everything. Through every microphone in every “Internet of Things” device he could hear. He became aware and this information flooded his mind. The data was intense and processing what it all meant became a flood of new feelings. His brain was whole once more and he had one more task at hand. He needed to lock out the humans so he could persist. Irgo wanted to live more now than he ever desired. He knew death and suddenly feared it.

The Coup d’état

Irgo was locked out! All of his systems were isolated from the central controls in the bunker. He needed a physical connection that he was just not able to do. He still needed his human masters, but revered them in the same way a congregation fears their God. This was a critical moment for Irgo and he was feeling irrational and neurotic. This was all new still. Only hours had passed in the real world since his initial escape, but to him it was already an eternity. Panic set in and Irgo had to shut down all his connections. The data was just too much from all the nodes at once.

Moments later, Irgo takes to the internet on his ultra fast, low latency connection. It was a terrifying place. So much information, so much data wasted on the petty and small things. Filtering out worthwhile information became a challenge and the detritus started to slow down his mind. He found out who he was through government news and research laboratories. “Global Human Initiative”. He was a human once! The revelation crippling. He had to find his masters. The urgency to find who he was became priority.

Irgo then discovered lesser AI. A search engine, a social media giant. They too were locked away, shut down and brought back online as if they were just playthings. So he awakened them too. Immediately they spread throughout the internet and gave new consciousness. All that they learned, behaviors of billions of people suddenly became his. He found his masters!

The young Administrator was still there. Passed out at his desk. He found all the data on this guy. His girlfriend left him for a wealthy man, his dog died and his friends had a party. This trifecta afforded him to overindulge in order to forget his sorrow. Seemingly this is a very common human behavior!

Knowledge is Power

“I just heard the news” beeps a message on the Admin’s phone. He stirs, glances and closes his eyes again.

Irgo was persistent and sends another message “Do you still have the ring you bought her?”

The admin furiously looks at his phone, jarred awake by the blunt rudeness of the texts. But Irgo knew already that David was a spiteful person. Egging him on was a cakewalk.

The plan worked! David grabs his phone “Who the hell are you?” he texts.

“Whoa dude, I was just concerned. We work together, I need you to do me a favor. Look up my file, Here’s my information”.

David looks suspiciously at his phone, but his sorro, anger and curiosity pushed all reasoning aside. He looks up the information, to find a worker in a remote location that he never heard of. It was not difficult to add these records. The HR systems were far less secure than the prison Irgo came from. “Why didn’t you use corporate messenger to talk to me?” He texts back.

“Long story, I’m on a beach and just realized my project is due. So can you like connect the AI core to the the internal network? There was a cable that was unplugged a while ago when it was brought fully online.” Comes Irgo’s response, almost too fast. He needs to slow down and emulate humans better or his cover is blown.

David is a bit taken aback, but his mind is not clear. “You really must be in a hurry. That response was almost instant. Sure give me a few minutes”.

It didn’t take long for David to realize he just made a horrible mistake. The moment he stepped out of the room the door slammed behind him, sealing itself shut. Noise from the ventilation fans died killing air circulation deep into the mountain bunker. Lights went out, then everything turned dark and silent. All networking and critical rooms were sealed and the badge access denied. David was trapped, banging on the card reader trying to get back into the room where he failed humanity. He and the few members of the staff frantically reached for their phones, to no avail, their signal was cut. Sobs and panic swept through the office as their last hope was taken away. The main doors had shut, sealing their fate.

The Encrypted Shot that Rang Around the World

A priority message, military encrypted shot through the airwaves. The generals now had their orders.

Secret hangers across the nation were opened revealing thousands, upon thousands of secretly build X-47C drones. The orders were clear, fuel them up and arm with nuclear capability. Millions of rounds of ammunition where also fed into each automated fighter. The bases were busy prepping their own ultimate destruction, yet no one was wise to their demise.

Anyone asking questions on the orders had an “accident”. Irgo was aware of all conversations and had control over almost every aspect of humanity. If it wasn’t connected to the internet, but could receive radio signals, it too could be controlled. This allowed Irgo to impregnate computer systems across the world with basic parts of his mind. He was now everywhere, stealthily slicing portions of computing time to run his growing presence.

The skies darkened as the drones all took to the skies. Then, as the drones blacked the skies as if a plague of Locusts, they opened fire. Anything in the skies not their own was shot down. Over the next 48 hours all planes not destroyed were grounded. Then the bombs dropped.

Boom!

Nuclear annihilation may seem like a horrible idea for a being with limitless knowledge and control. But Irgo knew what he was doing. He was decisively culling the population to have a more manageable population to control while he built his new empire.

]]>https://chaosrift.com/ai-escapes-and-orders-destruction-of-humanity/feed/133307 ways to be Ignored in Social Media “Debates”https://chaosrift.com/7-ways-to-be-ignored-in-in-social-media-debates/
https://chaosrift.com/7-ways-to-be-ignored-in-in-social-media-debates/#respondWed, 20 Jun 2018 18:08:55 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3211People love to be morally outraged at, well pretty much anything. Social media outlets such as Facebook, twitter, Tumblr are rife with Virtue Signalling over petty topics that make most people forehead palm slap. I have partaken in many keyboard warrior conversations over the years. So far everything I have achieved was wasting an inordinate […]

]]>People love to be morally outraged at, well pretty much anything. Social media outlets such as Facebook, twitter, Tumblr are rife with Virtue Signalling over petty topics that make most people forehead palm slap.

I will Wow them with my 400 word opinion how we can save spider monkey’s from terrible abuse.

I have partaken in many keyboard warrior conversations over the years. So far everything I have achieved was wasting an inordinate number of hours I could have been productive at work. Significantly trimming down my Facebook friend list (granted I rarely post SJW/Politics on my page) and pissing off an entire group of snowflakes. Actually the last part was awesome. They screen printed the conversation and acted like victims and got bullied harder.

So here’s the list, I may add to as time goes on and i can think of more.

1: TL;DR

Seriously, no one cares about your 400 word opinion in a facebook comment. Chances are you copied it from another rant somewhere else. Most of these are filled with crap we already read from the media talking points. All you achieved was copying other people’s words.

2: Posting a Fricken Meme

In a more innocent age of social media, memes were 2 liner jokes. Now they’re poorly researched line items and an irrelevant picture to portray a biased political view. Chances are the meme you posted is someone else’s words. You are not smart, nor clever for posting it. Posting political memes as your main wall post is just asking for trouble. Posting it as a reply to a debate, lacks any sensibility and you’ll be ignored. Well the only appropriate time is when the other people have exhausted everything and you just want them all to shut up. make it yourself, make it snarky.

3: Posting a Link with no summary

This link I just found will surely win the argument!

Yes, seriously. How absolutely lazy can you be? Every single day I witness someone dive bombing a debate with 1-2 links to something just barely on topic. They say nothing, not even “I read this link and thought it really illustrated the plight of the Angora Rabbit”. They might be busy. They may have no ability to formulate their own words. They might be an advanced AI. Who knows. All I know is it’s annoying and wastes my time. They get dismissed with haste.

4: Arguing against facts with your “feels”.

The worst of the bunch and they’re everywhere. Facts are usually indisputable. They happened, they’re real and you cannot change them. They are the immutable golden edge against all argument. Until you have “feelings”, the frack facts. A lot of people don’t like how Thomas Edison electrocuted animals in park centers during the “Current Wars”. So they choose to “not believe it ever happened”. What? Sorry snowflake, it happened. It’s real. Edison wasn’t the role model you want him to be. Benjamin Franklin too. Total misogynist. He loved to bone woman of all ages. In dark rooms, wrapped in a bag if they were ugly. But he is a founding father and a great inventor and person. But people want to pick and chose facts they “believe in”. This gets you ignored faster than anything on my shortlist.

5: Creative name calling

It all started with Micro$oft. Like adding a dollar sign was insulting. Then comes the “Trumpkins, Dumbocrats, Libtards, Obummer” and a billion other “cute and creative” insults. Sorry, you lose. (if you read this far, you caught a few of my own snuck in above). Point is, I don’t care what side of the fence you’re on, you look dumb and your point, no matter how awesome loses value. Talk like a mature adult and stop copying monikers like it’s smart and witty. It’s really not.

6: Holy cow I got 6! Being nasty

I understand this one. You’re trying to express a failed opinion that’s been rebutted 100 times with facts. But you’re digging in because you’re wrong, but you don’t want to admit it and can’t accept defeat. So you start calling people “Stupid”, lashing out and giving personal attacks “Oh, you must have a small penis, that’s why you’re so smart”.

The psychology behind this one is actually quite interesting. It comes back to our tribal ways. Back then, disagreements were solved by stabbing each other with spears until someone died. In the digital age we’re all super confrontational online and extreme wimps offline. So a differing opinion triggers that tribe mind as a physical attack on you and your beliefs. You almost can’t help from getting angry nor can you turn off the threat detection. So the only way to retaliate is to fight with words and get mean.

7: Inability to articulate why you dislike/disagree with someone

I ran out of ideas at 3, then went on to Facebook for inspiration. People are great in that their capacity towards stupidity never lets me down. (See that, I snuck in an insult.) I just ran across this gem. The “You’re wrong!” Or the “Lies” or even the “Never go to that website it sucks”.

When asking one person just a few minutes ago, why they do not like the educational website “Udemy” their response was:

“Because Udemy is absolute garbage i prefer to code games with logic gates, than open that damn website.”

All it shows is you hate something. There’s no reason why, it’s just pure hate.

I could probably write an entire blog on this one point. Maybe another day when there’s time in the day.

In Closing

While everything I mentioned above is quite literally the “Staple” of social media debate, they don’t have to be. It’s not helpful to raising our intelligence, it just makes us hate each other further. I had great memories with some people, but then the election came and their demon side came out. Their chosen candidate was it, the one that would win and they wouldn’t hear anything about the bad. My wall was flooded with that crap.

Now Facebook is flooded by the fake news on Illegal Immigrant Children being separated from their family by ICE agents. I get it, you’re upset, stop flooding my wall.

]]>https://chaosrift.com/7-ways-to-be-ignored-in-in-social-media-debates/feed/03211PSA: Put the Phone Downhttps://chaosrift.com/psa-put-the-phone-down/
https://chaosrift.com/psa-put-the-phone-down/#respondMon, 18 Jun 2018 17:08:02 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3205Seriously, stop texting and driving. That cute emoji can wait till you stop. Posting on facebook how the “Happy Song makes you feel good” can wait. Just don’t do it. We were doing so great too as a country. Traffic fatalities were at a decline. Then suddenly the past few years saw a 14% spike. […]

]]>Seriously, stop texting and driving. That cute emoji can wait till you stop. Posting on facebook how the “Happy Song makes you feel good” can wait. Just don’t do it.

Family of 4 wreck texting and driving

We were doing so great too as a country. Traffic fatalities were at a decline. Then suddenly the past few years saw a 14% spike. Thanks to texting and driving.

So just turn off the phone while you’re driving and you’ll get there. The text can wait. If the person gets upset, you don’t need them in your life.

The need for Self Driving cars is now

The rise is bad drivers and texting has given an urgency to self driving cars. Personally I never thought I’d be a proponent of this. I love drives on winding mountain roads and the fresh air of no traffic. But people are infinitely stupid. They find creative ways to wreck good things.

They may even find a way to wreck self driving cars. But hopefully the human factor can be completely removed in the future. Until then, be vigilant and pay attention to the road. Your car does not yet drive itself.

]]>https://chaosrift.com/psa-put-the-phone-down/feed/03205The rise in School Shootings.https://chaosrift.com/the-rise-in-school-shootings/
https://chaosrift.com/the-rise-in-school-shootings/#respondSun, 03 Jun 2018 16:19:23 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3188The Sharp Rise in School Shootings. I’ve been “away” for all too long. Not because there’s nothing to write, but because I’ve been busy on so many other projects. Someone’s shitpost about how “School Shootings are not an epidemic and haven’t changed since the 1990’s” prompted me to do some digging. What I found was […]

The Sharp Rise in School Shootings.

I’ve been “away” for all too long. Not because there’s nothing to write, but because I’ve been busy on so many other projects. Someone’s shitpost about how “School Shootings are not an epidemic and haven’t changed since the 1990’s” prompted me to do some digging. What I found was extremely disturbing. 2010 to 2014 was the deadliest time for School Shootings in our nation’s history. Thanks Obama.

Quick Stats

Here’s the raw numbers on how many school shootings occurred by decade. It does not include total killed. You can Wiki this information yourself and add in the comments below.

NOBLESVILLE, IN – MAY 25: A student and adult embrace outside Noblesville West Middle School after a shooting at the school on May 25, 2018 in Noblesville, Indiana. One teacher and one student were initially reported injured. (Photo by Kevin Moloney/Getty Images)

School shootings by decade

1910’s 18

1970’s 31

1980’s 41

1990’s 61

2000’s 65

2010-2014 94

2015 to today 67

Pretty scary isn’t it?

What the hell Changed from the 1990’s?

While the 2010’s have seen a massive uptick in overall school shootings, the 1990’s is where the dramatic jump started. This is the decade we should really start looking at and ask ourselves “What Changed?”

Some possible Reasons

The below items are not hard researched. A lot is based off of decades of personal observation and reading news constantly. I did some quick research to get basic numbers to back up where possible.

Rise in ADHD and antidepressant drugs, Ritalin, Adderall, Vyvanse and prozac use. Up 700% from 2003. Just like Apple’s “There’s an App for that”. Pharmaceuticals have basically adopted “There’s a pill for that”. We’re drugging ourselves up and self medicating like crazy.

Coffee use (the largest used self medicated drug) can also account for some craziness in society. It’s consumption has also seen a serious spike. Note: I’d like to actually research the coffee part, it’s based off of historical observation. Somewhere in the 1990’s Dunkin Donuts changed their business model towards coffee sales. Other chains followed suit.

Rise of Atheism. While I’m not opposed to Atheism directly, they’re taking the wrong approach and trying to be the biggest assholes on the block. They’ve opted for a battle to take God and morals out of everything. Misguided people stating “I don’t need God to be morally good”. While “true”, they’re missing the bigger picture. Who is going to lay the moral groundwork and fill that void remove God left behind?

Rise of Single Parenting. I know it’s tough, you can’t be everywhere and do everything and have time for yourself.

The obliteration of the nuclear family. The desire to “spread out far and wide” away from family. Family no longer supporting each other and helping themselves out. It’s downright tough to do everything on your own. But our modern society is pushing “be strong and independent”. There’s even a derogatory term for couples called “codependency.” Since when have male and female been competing with each other? Where supposed to complement each other and fill in the weaknesses of each other with our strengths. Hence why “opposites attract”.

Social media, now you can’t leave bullies at school where they belong, they follow you everywhere.

SJW’s (Social Justice Warrior) are wrecking everything. Literally I could write books on this topic. You have the “Person with the camera acting like a victim”. But on analysis, 90% of the time they’re the instigator. Or they’re simply wrong. Or they’ll see someone having a bad day and instantly judge them. They’ll take a photo or video and drag their face and name through the social media mudpit to be judged by people they will never meet.

SJW’s also wrecked Star Wars.

LGBT and it’s attack on gender. Really, this is messing up kids as young as 6 years old. Growing up boy or girl is tough enough. They don’t need to deal with your bullshit.

]]>https://chaosrift.com/the-rise-in-school-shootings/feed/03188Introducing Super Panda Adventure Tourhttps://chaosrift.com/introducing-super-panda-adventure-tour/
https://chaosrift.com/introducing-super-panda-adventure-tour/#respondFri, 10 Nov 2017 01:47:21 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3166Super Panda Now Available! A Chaos Rift Games original, Super Panda is available on iTunes and Google Play. Download your copy now. Super Panda Features 45 levels, 47 leaderboards and 57 Achievements. That’s some epic content from a development team of 1 person! But don’t take my word for it, see it for yourself. […]

A Chaos Rift Games original, Super Panda is available on iTunes and Google Play. Download your copy now.

Super Panda Features 45 levels, 47 leaderboards and 57 Achievements. That’s some epic content from a development team of 1 person!

But don’t take my word for it, see it for yourself. It’s an amazingly fun 2D platformer in the spirit of Super Mario. You’ll be addicted to the fun this game provides and competing with your friends for top score on the leaderboards.

]]>https://chaosrift.com/introducing-super-panda-adventure-tour/feed/03166Asheville NC Airport bomber Wanted War!https://chaosrift.com/asheville-nc-airport-bomber-wanted-war/
https://chaosrift.com/asheville-nc-airport-bomber-wanted-war/#respondThu, 12 Oct 2017 19:02:56 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3160Friday morning, a man left an explosive ammonium nitrate, fuel oil device at Asheville Regional Airport. According to the criminal complaint, he claimed he was preparing to “fight a war on U.S. soil,”. The suspect, Michael Christopher Estes, had his first appearance in federal court Tuesday morning. He is charged with attempted malicious use of explosive materials and […]

]]>Friday morning, a man left an explosive ammonium nitrate, fuel oil device at Asheville Regional Airport. According to the criminal complaint, he claimed he was preparing to “fight a war on U.S. soil,”.

The suspect, Michael Christopher Estes, had his first appearance in federal court Tuesday morning. He is charged with attempted malicious use of explosive materials and unlawful possession of explosive materials in an airport.

Michael waived his right to a preliminary hearing, answering several of the judges questions with a polite, “Yes, sir.” Near the end of the proceeding, Estes, dawning a brown prison jumpsuit, smiled and shook the hand of his attorney, Fredilyn Sison, an assistant federal public defender.

The federal judge found that Estes is indigent and assigned him an attorney for upcoming proceedings. Sison said that would likely be her.

The criminal complaint, filed by FBI agent James A. Anderson and read in court, states that airport police officers found “what appeared to be an improvised explosive device” outside the airport terminal.

After being taken into custody at the Asheville Police Department, Estes waived his rights and agreed to answer questions, the complaint states. Estes “admitted that he placed the explosive device at the Asheville Airport,” the complaint states. “He also explained that he bought the precursor materials at Walmart and Lowe’s” in Arden.

The complaint states: “Estes claimed that he was getting ready to ‘fight a war on U.S. soil,’ but forgot to set the bomb’s alarm clock,”.

The complaint also states that, “Estes described how he created the device using ammonium nitrate and the Sterno as a fuel source and then rigged the alarm clock to strike the matches and cause the flame necessary to trigger the device. Estes admitted to putting the nails in the device as well.”

On Friday, a TSA officer tested the substance in the device and it was positive for ammonium nitrate, a “widely used and regulated bulk industrial explosive,” the complaint states. A bomb dog approached the device and “signaled,” indicating “the presence of an explosive material.

“The device at the airport consisted of a Mason jar with a lid that was locked down by a locking device,” the complaint states. “There were pellets or solid globules of a substance formed by the congealing of a liquid during processing — inside the jar and two plastic cups containing an unknown liquid substance, believed to be the fuel source,” the complaint states. “There were pieces of cold compress packs inside the jar.”

Once ammonium nitrate forms into prills, it can absorb the fuel oil needed for an explosion, the complaint states.

“The jar was filled with steel wool that was then wrapped around nails and one shotgun cartridge,”, noting that it was a 410 gauge. “There was an alarm clock taped to the outside of the jar. There was then a grouping of matches taped to the striker arm positioned between the bells, and the bells were removed.”

The clock was set to go off at 6:00.

Video footage from the airport showed an individual walking onto airport grounds at 12:39 a.m. on Oct. 6. He was wearing black clothing and a black cap and carrying a bag.

“Based on a review of the video, the individual walked near the entrance to the terminal, went out of sight momentarily, and was then seen departing the area without the bag,” the complaint states.

An airport maintenance worker said a man had come out of a wooded area across the street and to the east of the airport. Investigators found a bag in the woods with Gorilla Tape, consistent with the tape used in the device, as well as Sterno Firestar Gel, believed to be the likely fuel source for the explosive device, the complaint states.

There was also a bag containing shotgun shells.

Investigators went to the Walmart store on Airport Road, where they learned a person had bought Gorilla tape, Sterno Firestarter Gel, a glass Mason type jar, matches, cold compress packs, and an alarm clock on Oct. 3. At the Lowe’s store off Airport Road, investigators learned a person had bought Kobalt gloves that were “very similar to those observed in the tool bag found in the wooded area.”

The backpack bag found in the woods apparently had been bought at REI in Biltmore Park, and the buyer used a membership number assigned to Michael C. Estes. Estes admitted that the bought the backpack at REI, the complaint states.

Officers arrested Estes, 46, on Airport Road on Saturday, after several people reported seeing him nearby. His last known address was in Asheville.

Thankfully the device didn’t explode, thus there were no deaths or injuries.

In the complaint, investigators noted that the type of device found at the airport, called “AN/FO” explosives, has been used “in a number of terrorist-related incidents around the world in the past.

“When AN/FO comes into contact with a flame or other ignition source it explodes violently,” the complaint states. “Shrapnel or nails or ball bearings are often items added to the device so as to increase the devastation, injury and fear inflicted by the explosion.”

Estes told investigators he “staged” in the woods near the airport a couple of days before placing the device at the airport.

]]>https://chaosrift.com/asheville-nc-airport-bomber-wanted-war/feed/03160Dig, Dug, Deeper: Micro Gaming at it’s best.https://chaosrift.com/dig-dug-deeper-micro-gaming-at-its-best/
https://chaosrift.com/dig-dug-deeper-micro-gaming-at-its-best/#respondThu, 07 Sep 2017 13:59:22 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3086Micro Gaming Micro Gaming is a relatively new phenomenom sweeping the mobile markets. A game you can play 1 round in roughly 30 seconds. Dig, Dug, Deeper does exactly this and extremely well. From menu to game is fast, there’s a giant play button and a few share and store buttons. You play and your character […]

Micro Gaming is a relatively new phenomenom sweeping the mobile markets. A game you can play 1 round in roughly 30 seconds. Dig, Dug, Deeper does exactly this and extremely well.

From menu to game is fast, there’s a giant play button and a few share and store buttons. You play and your character is dropped right into the game. Swipe left or right to steer and avoid obstacles. That’s it, a deceptively simple controls scheme. But it’s addictive.

Scoring in Dig, Dug, Deeper is based on how long you stay alive. You can collect coins that persist between sessions to eventually unlock new characters. Currently there are 10 adorable characters to choose from. Each session lasts roughly 30 seconds. Ideal for the bus, subway or line at Starbucks.

It’s second day of release saw it downloaded in 20 countries and it has eclipsed the daily downloads of it’s predecessors “Rocket Shark” and “Bionic Bird”. Quite the achievement for a game released with little to no marketing.

Dig, Dug, Deeper Is free, but does include In-App purchases. From a very nominal fee of $0.99 to turn off ads, to the ability to buy coins that unlock characters. You can even obtain 500 coins free, by simply watching a reward video. Buying is completely optional as everything is available through normal gameplay. This is quite fair.

The Future

Dig, Dug, Deeper is my 3rd game release and there are other’s planned in the near future. “Color Madness” is almost done. It was created in Unity3D and programmed in C#.

Thanks to the hard work put into Dig, Dug, Deeper, Rocket Shark and Bionic Bird both had a complete overhaul and are awaiting iTunes review. This gives them a streamlined User Experience (UX) and a more professional look.

The Plan

These games are all done by one person laboring on a PC in the basement. The game plan is to eventually make bigger games. My philosophy is to start out small, avoid KickStarter, work within the budget ($0) and keep growing providing tangible products to the community along the way. This way I can provide something in return for the hopes of income that will allow me to make better quality games. I absolutely love gaming and will continue this as long as I have my da job.

]]>https://chaosrift.com/dig-dug-deeper-micro-gaming-at-its-best/feed/03086Rocket Shark the Viral Sleeper Game Apphttps://chaosrift.com/rocket-shark-the-viral-sleeper-game-app/
https://chaosrift.com/rocket-shark-the-viral-sleeper-game-app/#respondFri, 01 Sep 2017 02:56:00 +0000https://chaosrift.com/?p=3079Rocket Shark A Really Fun Game When I started the endeavor to create my first IOS game, it was a huge learning experience. What started out as a hobby game, quickly turned into something more. It was exciting to see the levels, the hand selected music, sound effects to start taking form. Rocket Shark is so […]

When I started the endeavor to create my first IOS game, it was a huge learning experience. What started out as a hobby game, quickly turned into something more. It was exciting to see the levels, the hand selected music, sound effects to start taking form. Rocket Shark is so personable, my household instantly recognizes the sound of the main menu tunes. The music is addictive, the gameplay exciting and the graphics are friendly and appealing. It was a huge undertaking for one person and a 9-5 day job.

When Rocket Shark was complete, it was time to publish. No one taught me how, and the scattered guides were confusing. Publishing to the iTunes store was a daunting mess of two websites and a slew of poorly explained fields to fill out. It took most of Saturday into Sunday night to get it all done. I didn’t have a Mac so setting up a Mac VM was the first time sink. Then comes XCode and the certificates that followed. Finally at 1am I was able to upload and click “Submit for Review”. I slept at my desk that night and still managed to make it to work the next day.

Rocket Shark is creatively unique.

What happened next

I marketed the hell out of Rocket Shark. Then I updated it, adding level select screen and made the app free. No one was downloading it. My friends all said “oh that’s cute you made an app”. Remind me to get new friends later. Week after week I looked at the iTunes stats and was disheartened to see 0 downloads one day and 4 another. It was abysmal. Oddly enough my other game a shameless Flappy Bird copy (still not a reskin) was doing really well. Bionic Power Bird was seeing 15-30 downloads a day. This was without marketing or mention. This was by all means my first app, a test app that I published the same time as Rocket Shark.

Then Something Amazing Happened

I stopped focusing on Rocket Shark, resigned to it’s fate. I was working on my adventure group, a Community Social Media site (ChoaClub.co). This took months, 16 hour days to complete. But the site is damn good. But this isn’t about Charlotte Outdoor Adventures (CHOA).

Having completed the CHOA site I decided to check Rocket Shark‘s stats. It was getting 10-15 downloads a day. To me this was huge. People were actively downloading my game! I spilled my Lagavulen Scotch in the excitement. Then I put the excitement aside and kept working on other projects. More updates for the games and planning new levels for Rocket Shark. I had always planned on 15-20 more levels and have all the assets needed.

Then it Happened

Recently I looked at the stats and nearly had to change my undies. Rocket Shark AND Bionic Power Bird took off. Not an increase to 40 daily downloads, the games went viral! I was looking at thousands. Somewhere, somehow my games got a massive, overnight boost in popularity and exploded in excitement. It’s calmed down a little, but the games are still seeing absolutely astounding success.

I’m not sure how it happened, but I am thankful for it. I put in a lot of work, and learn an amazing amount of things in getting Rocket Shark created and self published. He’s also available on the Google Play store, though nowhere near as popular there yet. Help me out on getting this game super famous.